Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD

Schiit, Yggy, Benchmark, etc all represent huge values for their respectively priced market. Its always great feeling you are getting MORE then you paid for! Congrats to all who have posted and found grea DAC’s with such high performance to budget ratios!

I’m after the cost no object, absolute reference, defining DAC that makes your digital sound like your listening to an original reel to reel master tape! The hunt has taken over 3 years thus far and led me through dozens of DAC’s ranging in price form $6,500 to $43,000! They are massively different and range in performance equally massively. Price does not ALWAYS correlate with performance; but I have found around $7,500-8,000 is the floor below which it becomes increasingly difficult to find something truly reference level. I have heard MANY DAC’s over $9k that perform more like $4,500 DAC’s. But I have not heard ANY $4,500 DAC’s that perform like the best $9+k DAC’s......

** Audition report **

I had the opportunity to spend about 2 hours this morning comparing my ODSX and my Chord DAVE, which now has about 290 hours on it. Because my ODSX was upgraded to the Ethernet input I lost my prized Off Ramp USB input which i miss terribly. I do think that the Off Ramp was part of the magic and I am almost definitely going to send the ODSX back to have the Ethernet input removed and my old Off Ramp input reinstalled. I have been blown away by the performance of the ODSX overall but i constantly feel that there is a veil in the upper registers that is the only thing holding the ODSX from being SO good that nothing else (cost wise) would be worth even listening to anymore.... I'm using the ODSX with the spdif input currently. Its got about 1000 hours on it, so its as burned in as its going to be. This "veil" is not as much a lack of anything as it is an understatement of what there is. Its not bright, its not shouty, its not fatiguing, its not overstated, its just not. Its tonal reproduction is dead on, timbre is luxurious and recreation of instruments and vocal texture is sublime. When I ask my son (the musician) which DAC he prefers he reliably choses the ODSX (except when the Davinci was here) and when I ask why he says that the ODSX makes everything sound like instruments sound on stage when he is performing. But when I compare it to the DAVE and when I compared it to the Emm DA-2 I find both of those DAC's to be a tad more exposing of the upper registers and when I switch back to the ODSX it feels like thats missing... With that said, the one word I used to describe the DA-2 was "Accurate" and the one word I would use to describe the DAVE is "Clean." While the one word I have used to describe the ODSX is "Engaging." The one word I used to describe the Davinci LH was "Woah."

Lets be thorough though...

The Chord DAVE i ordered was silver and is eloquently implemented, small in stature, dense in implementation and the equivalent of a petite supermodel. I cant keep my hands off it and I find myself glancing sideways while I'm listening to look at it slyly like I'm sneaking a peak at a women changing clothes through a window I'm not supposed to be able to see... I almost feel dirty. lol.. Needless to say the designer hit it out of the park. Its buttons and its back panel are well laid out, the large display is easy to read and easily displays the information it is supposed to. And the remote is simple and functional. Although it has been described by some as lacking low frequency extension and others as being punchy and energetic, I would say that its extension is unrestricted and its energy is youthful and exuberant. But like a teenager, what is has in energy and exuberance it lacks in maturity; which became my general impression throughout the listening session. As previously stated, where i constantly hear that blasted veil with the ODSX, the DAVE extends "cleanly" and without restriction to the nether regions of infantile hearing. If there were a DAC that could reproduce a 1000 KHz signal, this would be it. Mids were well represented and properly presented. Along with its extension and sparkle came a slight but noticeable over exaggeration of specific instruments in space and in time. Whereas the ODSX presented a seamless orchestra or jazz band with each instrument equally presented and highlighted, the DAVE chose to highlight a specific instrument or vocal timbre leaving the rest sort of in the background. Again, it lacked a sense of maturity and complexity in reproduction that made me feel like everything that was supposed to be there, was there. But that there was a lack of integration and coherence that the ODSX gave me naturally and without even highlighting that it was doing it.

For those with some literary exposure, the DAVE reminded me of the automatic sentient door from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy that was constantly asking if it did a good job and wanted to make sure that its opening and closing was as pleasing to the user as possible; but just never really "got it."

I kept writing "immature" and "where's the layers?" in my notes. The greatest lack in complexity was clearly mids and down, and the highs seamed a touch overstated; but not to a fault.

Interestingly, when I had the Davinci in, I never heard the veil. I didn't hear it in the Davinci and I didn't hear it when I switched back to the ODSX. And I found the tonal structure of the LH to be simply correct from top to bottom. The ODSX sounds like the LH's baby brother in every conceivable way. This keeps telling me that the ODSX is not veiled at all, and that the other DAC's i am hearing are simply overstating a tonal signature that many like hearing and consider to be a sign of accuracy. I may be wrong....

I have a very standard listening routine and a standard list of music. At the conclusion i always put on a piece of music that i love simply because it has the ability to grab my emotional innards and, when presented correctly, physically rip me away from any possibility of critically listening because I lose myself in the majesty and grandier of the music. My eyes instinctively close, my arms start moving around like the Diva from The Fifth Element and I'm sure i look a complete fool; but the moment is emotionally sublime and I'm left at the conclusion half giddy and half euphoric. When I played the DAVE i was firmly fixed in critical listening mode throughout the piece. When I switched to the ODSX I don't even remember what happened... And that says it all!

I will repeat my listening session again in another 200 hours with a fresh and completely open mind. And I will have some audio buddies over in the meantime to listen and tell me I'm a fool and that the DAVE is WAY better then the ODSX; or maybe not.

As always, thanks for following along.

Everything you have said about the DAVE is what I too have heard.  I could never relax into the music when it was in the system.  This is why I went with the QX5/20.  It has layers and is more musical for me.  It's coherent.  Matt, you know how we always talk about coherency, so I find it interesting that you too brought this up. 

Digital is sooo soooo difficult to do properly. To get it to sound organic and musical is so hard with all the timing errors you have.  That's a big reason why so many DAC's fall short as they try so hard to be the last bastion of detail, but they lose some of the body of the music by doing this.  You may have found a more transparent or more extended DAC, but I bet when you listen, you lack the body that you love. 

Thanks again Matt.  You will take much flax from the DAVE fans, but you do give it a real listen and it's appreciated.

Are you using the HF filter option on the Dave? 

Might also want to check out the Chord Blu Mk 2 for the DAVE. New CD transport that can be used as a digital upscaler and is designed to work with DAVE.  Supposedly significantly increases performance of DAVE (per the designer and some in Asia that have heard it).  I have a DAVE and have one on order.  Ships to US June.  Good luck.